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WEIRTON -- The third annual Ohio Valley Coaching Clinic is drawing a solid early response from tri-state grid coaches.
This year's event will be held at Weir High. It is scheduled for Thursday, March 22 from 6-9:30 p.m. The previous two clinics were staged in Wheeling.
The informative football session is the brainchild of Ohio Valley native and current Emporia State University defensive coordinator Bryan Nardo. The first two clinics were staged in Wheeling and met with solid success.
"It (the move to Weir High) will be good for the clinic for a lot of reasons, but mainly because it will be a bigger space that gives us room to grow," Nardo said.
Nardo is pleased with the early interest but is hoping more responses will be coming before the reservation deadline.
"Things have been going pretty well, so far we have five staffs that have reached out to me about coming. But I am hoping that the number jumps up here in the next week," Nardo said. "This year, with holding the clinic at Weir High, we have access to their weight room. So coach (Trevor) Ging will have the ability to not only talk about strength & conditioning, but also be able to do hands-on demonstrations for the techniques he presents on.
"We also will have a room set aside for breakout sessions, so that will be available if anyone wants to ask specific questions or bounce ideas off one another," he said. "So far we've sent out emails to every school in the OVAC inviting them to join us, as well as sending out close to 100 emails to high school coaches in Western Pa. So hopefully that pays off and we can make this the biggest group of coaches so far."
Nardo has again put together an impressive group of speakers. The current list includes:
¯ Tony Koehling – Offensive line coach/run game coordinator at Emporia State. During Koehling's four years with the Hornets, they have had immense success on the offensive side of the ball. In 2015 and 2016, the Hornets made appearances in the NCAA D-II playoffs while averaging 447 yards per game and scored an average of 34 points a game. Prior to Emporia State, Koehling worked at Ohio University where he was a part of two bowl appearances in 2012 and 2013. He started his coaching career at Covington Catholic high school in Northern Kentucky and his father, Tony Koehling Sr., was a longtime assistant football coach at Roger Bacon High School in Cincinnati.
¯ Tom Keane – Running backs/H-backs coach at West Virginia Wesleyan. Keane just finished his first season with the Bobcats and has been very well traveled during his career in college coaching. He spent a season working with tight ends and special teams at Florida Atlantic University. Prior to his stint in Boca Raton, he was the running backs coach at Colgate University where he helped them to a 9-5 record, a Patriot League championship and a trip to the FCS national quarterfinals. Keane guided a pair of running backs to second-team all conference awards. That season also marked the first time in the 125-year school history that four career 1,000 yard rushers shared the same backfield. He has also spent time coaching High School Football in Florida. A Shadyside native, he followed up an impressive high school career with the Tigers by going on to have a four-year career at Washington & Jefferson University where they compiled an impressive 40-7 record with 3 trips to the NCAA Division III playoffs.
¯ Trevor Ging – Strength & Conditioning coach – Trinity P3 Performance. Ging is currently working as a strength and conditioning coach for Trinity P3 Performance in Steubenville. He has also spent time as a strength & conditioning coach in the Miami Marlins organization from 2012 through 2017, during which he was named the 2014 South Atlantic League Strength Coach of the Year. Before that, he spent time at the college level working with West Liberty University, Kent State University, Ohio University, Capitol University and West Virginia University. A native of Shadyside, he finished up an impressive athletic career for the Tigers in 2004.
¯ Wheeling Jesuit University head coach Zac Bruney. Coach Bruney was named the first head coach at Wheeling Jesuit University in July of 2017 and is currently building the program. The Martins Ferry native and his staff just successfully completed their first recruiting class. Zac spent four seasons at Ohio Dominican, leading an offense that helped the Panthers to the NCAA Playoffs in 2013 & 2014. During the 2014 season, ODU averaged 35.6 points per game and led the country in completion percentage (67.9), had the second-best red zone offense (90.9 percent), and allowed just nine sacks in 13 games, the eighth-best total in the country. ODU also committed just 15 turnovers, the 19th fewest in the country. Bruney is also a twotime National Champion Quarterback from his playing days at Mount Union compiling a 23-1 record as a starter during his time with the Purple Raiders. He was a finalist for the Gagliardi Award, which is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in Division III College Football.
¯ Bryan Nardo - Defensive coordinator/linebackers, Emporia State University. He is entering his seventh year leading the Hornet defense and coaching linebackers. Coming off back-to-back 11 win seasons, the Hornets finished the 2017 season 6-5 to secure their third straight winning season for the first time since joining NCAA Division II. Emporia State is the only Division II school in the country to force 25+ takeaways every year from 2012-2016. Emporia State has been in the NCAA Playoffs three times over the last six years, making it to the regional championship game in 2015. Nardo has mentored 18 all-conference linebackers in his seven years as a position coach, five of them being named first team, with seven having 100+ tackles and 1 leading the nation in interceptions by a linebacker.
The clinic is free to all area high school coaches. Coaches are asked to RSVP by March 15. For more information follow @CoachNardo27 on Twitter or email OhioValleyCoachingClinic@Gmail.com "I can't thank the staff at Weir High enough for what they've been doing to help get everything organized, especially with what they're going through right now with the strike," Nardo said. "Coach (Troy) Fetty has been the point man for all of it with me and has been a huge help. "My biggest hope for this year is that we continue to grow in attendance. The more coaches that we have, the more speakers I can set up to come talk," he added. "If it keeps growing, there is no reason that we can't make this a Saturday clinic and get 7-8 different speakers."